ABC News Live

"Good evening, everyone. I am Geena Davis. Thank you so much for streaming with us." A bright smile on her beautiful face, the female announcer continued her words.

"We are now 12 days away from the start of the Apocalypse Game, Year 5. Therefore we have with us currently Captain Ethan Sinclair, joining from the East Coast Training Center. Good evening, Captain Sinclair. It's a pleasure to have you with us on this beautiful evening."

Following Geena's words, the screen split in two and another person's face appeared next to hers. It was a middle-aged man wearing a military uniform with his hair neatly styled. Starting with a polite smile, the man then opened his mouth.

"Good evening Geena, and good evening America."

Hearing the succinct reply, the female announcer immediately went for today's main topic.

"Captain Sinclair, can you please share with us the current situation at the East Coast Training Center? I'm sure all of the viewers are curious about it"

"Of course Geena. As you can see here–" The screen turned into an aerial view of many people in a large field. "–thousands of Americans have gathered and embarked on the training regime we have set up. We are still waiting for more to come, and we will stay here until the day of the game."

"That's good to know, Captain Sinclair. At this point, the viewers are very interested in the Lottery that has just been done and delivered to their homes. Do you have any comments or messages for those who were selected?"

"I actually do, Geena. I want to say that, if you are chosen, I know you must be anxious, but please do not forget that every year our survival rate has increased tremendously while the death rate has continued to decline. Therefore, please come to your respective training center as soon as possible. We have everything prepared in order to help you."

"Those are amazing words, Captain Sinclair." Turning to the camera, Geena smiled and opened her mouth. "That's it everyone from today's guest Captain Ethan Sinclair, two times veteran of the Apocalypse Game, who will help you prepare for the upcoming challenges. And who knows, we might finally win the game this year."

"That's it from me Geena Davis. You hear it first on ABC News."

***

Alan was currently watching the news on the plane, his hands were placed under his chin as a thoughtful look appeared on his face. Meanwhile, Nims was sitting on the seat next to him. The Indian man was curiously eating the meal the stewardess gave them.

There were only two weeks before the Apocalypse Game began, so the media all over the world were covering various topics and stories regarding the momentous occasion. The same thing happened in the previous Apocalypse Games, but the intensity shown by the media this year was higher than before.

With the revelation that most of the players participating in this year's game would come from the civilians, in order to prevent further hysteria and chaos, the governments were doing their best to create a lot of positive campaigns about joining the Apocalypse Game.

After double-checking the things he had to prepare for the upcoming game, Alan turned to look at the man sitting next to him. He felt mixed feelings from the fact the man stubbornly followed him back to the US.

He had indeed rejected the man, but his rejection fell into deaf ears as apparently the other side was dead set on believing that he was led by the god to follow him.

Before his regression, the man was included within the Black Sand Corporation's most vital players, and was one of his most formidable competitors. Thus the reason for his mixed feelings.

In a way, Alan was grateful that this time Nim would be on his side, since he definitely could use help to achieve his goal. Only, now that Nims had joined the table, Alan needed to change his plans a bit to include him. Alan even have to spent most of his dollars to make sure the Indian could safely travel to America.

Noticing the news before, the warrior monk asked, "This man named Sinclair…how strong is he?"

"He has played the game two times, he should be around level 50, so he's pretty strong"

"I see, i pray that i will fight him soon enough"

Alan once again rolled his eyes, Just like in his previous life, the monk was obsessed about fighting the strong. He took the hours he had on the plane to explain the monk about the game and make sure he understood that although the games tend to be competitive, it was never the objective to fight among each other.

Fortunately, even though Nims could be considered a simple man that grew up in the mountains, apparently he was still smart enough to quickly follow the situation around him. The monk also realizes that something was off about the things Alan told him. Unfortunately, there was nothing Alan could do to rectify the suspicion.

At the moment, Alan could only keep explaining about the game slowly while the facts about his regression would be explained bit by bit later down the lane.

As soon as the ship landed in New York, one urgent thing that Alan must complete as soon as possible was to make sure Nims was eligible to join the Apocalypse Game. Hence he quickly contacted the East Coast Apocalypse Game Center to register the monk as a volunteer.

Fortunately, with so many people still against the lottery, someone volunteering to join was very much welcome, even if such a person came from overseas.

This loose policy was part of the world government's solution to manage the shortage of players. With an average survival rate of 1%, filling the quota of 100,000 players in 100 different cities was not an easy task at all as everyone naturally didn't want to die.

When all the documents had been sent, Alan could do nothing but wait for it to be finished and accepted.

Now, the most logical next step for the two of them would be to join the training center, but Alan decided against it, as he still had other things he needed to do.